EVE Information Portal

So we've got to page 200 or so, the depths of which are reasonably unlikely to be read by CCP, but I'm going to follow up on my immediate reaction of "Dear god no" from page 2.

I'm not a huge fan of unallocated skillpoints, yet I am even less of a fan of how the game forces players to specialize, often before they have any idea about which route they wish to take in EVE, what the meta is, and what it will be. Without extreme specialization (or crazy levels of good luck) the idea of a newer pilot being able to afford these injection packets without shelling out more real-life money is fairly slim.

In a game that is already quite difficult for newer players, and a game seriously struggling with retention, I fear that this will seem as an almost certain pay-to-win barrier that new players feel they must pay, just to get a leg up, and that it will send a bad signal to them. Of course, I know that in EVE there is no true "pay to win" but I do worry about perceptions.

More so, though, I feel that there is quite a difference between the direct exchanging of a character. I think a balancing factor of character exchange is that you might get what you want (a shiny new dread pilot, for example) but it might come at a cost (it might not be able to double as the covert ops hauler your original main/alt had before you sold it to upgrade).

Moving on, what truly terrifies me about this idea is the inevitable meta that will evolve around it, when combining it with existing metas of EVE. Power blocks in EVE by-and-large tend to be exploitative and thus I shall present the following overly-dramatic and almost certainly accurate prediction:

"You, renter scum, you will contribute to your protection by providing us with 5 million SP per month as tribute."

Yes, it will happen, and because the sold-on-market SP packets will carry a premium, this will lead to smaller groups being forced to rip skills out of their heads just to pay the landlord... or to pay an aggressor to stop a war... or any other number of things. Obviously there is some element of cost-equivalence in that you could still, in a hard time, be forced to sell your skills for ISK... but if there is a way for one group of players to exploit another and get something cheaper, or easier, it will happen... often to the detriment of everyone else, and the game as a whole.

Solutions?

Nothing definitive. This entire area is a minefield.

Like I said in the opening statement, I hate forcing players. especially newer ones, to specialize. I would love to see selective attributes ripped out and maxed across the board (so I can stop telling newer players that the most efficient route to gain natural SP is the one where you polarise your remap and only train, for example, intelligence skills for 6 months, to the detriment of being able to fly new ships, or get new weapons etc.

Then I would like to see the "neutral remap" option keep its existing timers and bonuses for new players, but instead its purpose would be to allow a person to pull out and re-allocate up to 5 million SP **for their own use only**

New players in a corp stay longer and enjoy the game more than players in NPC corporations. Grant a small SP bonus after being in a corp (with at least 5 other players) for 3 weeks.

...

In summary, the SP trading worries me a lot, especially with how the meta will find a way to manipulate it to the benefit of certain groups.

I'd really like to know, whats CCPs actual intention behind this feature.

- Is it to simply gain more $ out of the current playerbase? ( I can totally understand that and as a player, I support that, as a broke CCP can't deliver me the game I love. But please not in this way.)
- Is it to help new players? (Please do so without Pay-To-Win!)
- Is it just to add new "features", because someone wants new features for the marketing charts ?
- Is it just a really nice trolling to the community ?

No really: What is the idea behind it? What do you guys want to archieve with that feature?
If the community knows the intention, then we maybe can help to get better ideas.
I would really like it way more to help, than to just rant about how sh.. your idea is

Depends on what the market situation on those Packets will be. By asking the renters directly, one could make sure that SP Packets are being produced.

I read some blogs about proposed change. I'm trying to gather info and opinion about it. They are usually split, pros, cons etc. I think this is lose-lose situaction for CCP. Playerbase is getting older, not enough new blood is coming into game (part of the problem is that newbros think they won't be competent with 100 mil SP vets). When this hits TQ part of the vets will propably leave (because it's changing the core of the game). Without change there won't be new players (and I assuming this will open game for new players), with change part of current player base may gone. It times when EvE already losing players, gains (new players) my not outrun losess.
Sad part of one of the blog was that devs think it's time to stop being afraid of incarna fallout. This suggest more micro transactions will come. After all it's business. There is no point of having loyal base of customers if you don't earn.
I don't like where this is heading. There are many ways to fill the gap between new and old players without real money involved. I don't think EvE will fall apart, but it will be something different. I don't know if I want to be part of it when that happens.

ok it's early... how?

the first thing a renter will do is say "ok you want 5m sp, that's 10 packets, that's 3bn isk to buy. my rent is 3bn per month." followed by "my rent has just gone up by 500m per month, i only used to pay 2.5bn".

you don't change the cost of anything, you're just hiking the prices of rental fees.

in addition to that you no longer control your rental fees - jita's market does.

how is skill progression being hampered by asking for a market traded commodity instead of a direct isk transfer?

You know that large blocs wage market manipulation right?

Anyway, I'm done. The instant gratification mob can have their fun, even if it means selling Eves soul.

No one is going to change any minds and this will be rolled out all the same.

'Think of the newbros' is the game equivalent of 'think of the children' at this point.

It would depend very much on how much the skill packets cost, and what the extractors cost.

If the prices are extremely high, which they likely would be once the initial flood of massive over-supply had dwindled, then even modest amounts of renter-SP demands would lead to people preferring to pull skills out their own heads rather than bankrupting themselves by buying directly from Jita.

It is of course unsustainable if not properly managed, but certain groups in EVE are very skilled at managing such things. Surrendering player skills you're not at-that-moment urgently in need of, to avoid catching heat from some other direction, is something that a lot of people in EVE would feel was a necessary trade off where the alternative was paying a colossal sum of ISK.

Could I have your SP when it happend?

P.S. I feel that I have right to be a bit jerky with you because you did so with me.

a SP packet will never cost more than 1/4 plex + extractor cost to produce. ever. it doesn't matter what the market price is. just pull it from an alt's head, there's never a situation where you will *have* to pull it out of your own head and thus your skill progression is never hampered.

this is no different to saying "if ccp want to introduce this "plex idea" then all teh ebils will charge you 1 plex per month to rent and people will be forced to open their wallets and pay real money to rent!!!!".

we're also overlooking the most obvious point; it's not in any landlord's best interest to alienate their renters - it's not slavery it's a rental agreement.